Pneumatic conveyor for light-weight empty bottles

ABSTRACT

Pneumatic conveyor for empty, lightweight bottles ( 1 ) of the kind incorporating a support flange ( 2 ) at an area of their neck ( 3 ). Said conveyor comprises a pair of coplanar, spaced apart supporting tracks ( 5 ) for supporting said flange ( 2 ), a pair of upper guiding tracks ( 11 ) opposed to tracks ( 5 ), and two bodies ( 12 ) arranged therebetween. Bodies ( 12 ) comprise passageways ( 13 ) communicating at one end with at least a pressurizable chamber ( 7 ) and defining at the other end blowing nozzles ( 6 ) which expel thrust air jets against the zone of the flange ( 2 ) of the bottles ( 1 ). The pressurizable chamber ( 7 ) is formed by a wrapping ( 8 ) easy to dismount, of a flexible and airtight material, such as a tarpaulin. The upper tracks ( 11 ) and bodies ( 12 ) are joined to the structure ( 4 ) by rigid means, while the tracks ( 5 ) are joined by elastic means allowing to manually withdraw the clogged bottles ( 1 ). Obturating plates serve for regulating the air flow through passageways ( 13 ).

SCOPE OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a pneumatic conveyor for empty, lightweightbottles of the kind incorporating a support flange at an area of theirneck and which are propelled by air jets along supporting and displacingguides.

STATE OF RELATED ART

In the state of the art, different pneumatic conveyors of this kind arewell-known, among which those disclosed in patents EP-0 070 931, EP-A-0705 777, EP-A-0 790 200 and WO 90/10587. In each of them the conveyorsdisclosed show a general common configuration which comprises, at least,a supporting structure for, at least, two coplanar parallel tracks forsupporting said flanges and apart from each other by a predetermined gapwhich defines a guide path of said bottles run; a plurality of blowingnozzles, distributed along each of said supporting tracks and locatedadjacent to them which provide air jets which propel the bottles; atleast a pressurizable chamber communicated with said blowing nozzles;and at least an inlet for supplying compressed air to said chamber.

The conveyor disclosed in said patent WO 90/10587 stands out in that,with a general configuration as above disclosed, said air nozzles arearranged above and under a single pair of supporting tracks for theflange, therefore the air jets affect the area of the neck and upperpart of the bottle neck. Said patent EP-A-0 705 777 discloses, on itshand, a conveyor likewise provided with a single pair of supportingtracks but, that, in addition to said blowing nozzles, which in thiscase are directed up to the upper part of the neck, the pressurizablechamber has passageways for air circulating and deflectors whichdistribute other air jets which impinge, in upwards and forwardsdirection on the part of the upper half of the bottle body.

These conveyors which have a single pair of supporting tracks, show thedrawback that the stability of the bottles run is very sensitive to anyunbalance or irregularity between the thrust power of the air jets whichimpinge on the areas located above and the areas located under theflange guiding said bottles, so that the bottles have a significantlikelihood to rotate each other and to get clogged in the conveyor guidepath.

Patent EP-0 070 931 shows a conveyor of above kind in which two pairs ortracks are present; one pair of lower support tracks and one pair ofupper guiding tracks. In this example, however, the air jets impingeexclusively on an area of the bottle neck located above the flange.Therefore, the possible benefits arising from the advantage of having adouble guiding track are lost because of the unbalance sustained by theareas of the bottles which receive the thrust of the air jets. Actually,as the thrust is exclusively carried out by the part located above theguiding area, that is to say, above the flange, the bottles tend to tiltforwards, so that the front part of said flange presses against thesliding surface of the lower supporting track and the rear part againstthe upper guiding track, the friction force negatively increasingcontrary to the bottles running forwards which implies a significantloss of power which means an increase of the air, supply cost and thelikelihood of irregularity in the carriage and even eventualobstructions.

It is to be noted that in this kind of equipment the clogged bottlesmeans a serious drawback because to remove them the line has to bestopped and part of the pressurizable chamber and of the guides must bedismounted which means an unbearable stop of the whole bottle feedingline at a bottling section, which obliges to arrange backup auxiliaryconveying lines.

Finally, said patent EP-A-0 790 200, of which this applicant is theproprietor, discloses a conveyor which incorporates a pair of lowersupporting tracks and a pair of upper guiding tracks, and characterisedin that the blowing nozzles are located at either side of the guide pathformed by them so that the air jets impinge just on the bottle guidingarea, that is to say, on the flange and neck areas immediately adjacentso that a very even bottle run is achieved because of an accurateguiding and a balanced thrust. The conveyor in addition comprises two ofsaid pressurizable chambers, independently feeding the nozzles at eitherside of the guide path in order to allow that a third chamber isincorporated, in this case a suction chamber, in the space locatedimmediately above said guide path for lightly and upwardly sucking thebottles favouring this way a diminution of the flange friction with thesupporting track.

Although this arrangement at operating level evidenced to be fullyeffective and satisfactory, however it can be improved over all on theconstruction aspect. Actually, in this conveyor, as well as in theremaining conveyors considered, the pressurizable chamber or chambersfeeding the blowing nozzles are made of a rigid material, generallymetal sheet, which is expensive as a raw material, expensive to conform,namely if airtightness is required, because it implies cutting, foldingand welding with some accurateness and that calls for bothersomemounting and dismounting and therefore, an also expensive generalmaintenance of the equipment.

Therefore, an object of this invention is to contribute with a pneumaticconveyor for empty lightweight bottles, comprising accurate guidingmeans, a balanced distribution of the thrust air jets and at least apressurizable chamber and blowing nozzles cheap to construct and easy tomount and dismount which imply therefore low cost of production,mounting and maintenance.

Another object of this invention is to contribute with a conveyor ofthis kind which has in addition means allowing to quickly remove fromthe line of bottles eventually clogged, even without stopping theconveyor is required.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

These objects are achieved in a pneumatic conveyor for empty lightweightbottles, according to this invention, contributing at least with apressurizable chamber formed by means of an airtight removable wrapping,secured along the supporting structure of the conveyor by airtight,removable junction means so that a quick access is provided to the areafor distributing air to the tracks for their cleaning, maintenance andeventual fitting and/or adjustment. Said removable wrapping is flexible,preferably made of canvas although it could also be any other laminarflexible and airtight material, as for example, plastic sheet, coated orimpregnated paper, or even a thin metal sheet such as aluminium.

The conveyor according to this invention is suitable to incorporate justone of those wrappings, forming a single pressurizable chamberassociated to the blowing nozzles arranged at either sides of thetracks, along all of them, in which case the area comprised between saidtracks, within said chamber, is covered by a profile configuring areversed channel to allow the passage of the bottle necks. This profile,on one hand, partly acts as supporting structure joining the tracks toeach other and keeping the suitable distance for the guide path, and onthe other hand, closing the pressurizable chamber at the area of saidguide path.

In the event that it is considered of interest to have a free spaceavailable at the higher area of the guide path or even an access to saidpath from said area, as it is the case of the suction chamber disclosedat mentioned patent EP-A-0 790 200, of which this applicant is theproprietor, the conveyor according to the invention can incorporate twoof said wrappings forming two side pressurizable chambers, eachassociated to the blowing nozzles arranged along one of the tracks.Here, the area comprised between said tracks is also covered at the topby a profile, although in this case said profile only acts as saidpartly supporting structure, so that, as it does not constitute a partof the chamber closing, it can be provided with opening having access tothe guide path. In addition, as the two pressurizable chambers remain ina lateral position, the area located immediately above said profileremains clear.

The embodiment of said chamber or chambers in a flexible laminarmaterial, such as for example, a tarpaulin, allows a significantdiminution of the costs as well of production as of mounting andmaintenance, because it is a cheap material, easy to work and withlittle requirements of conformation because it is easily adapted topossible unevenness of the conveyor design and it allows quick mountingand dismounting which carries a saving in maintenance because it allowsan easy access to the area distributing the air to the blowing nozzlesfor their cleaning or repair and even an access located at a portion ofsaid area by partly dismounting an edge of the wrapping.

In an example of preferred embodiment of the invention, said blowingnozzles are arranged between each of said two supporting tracks and eachof other corresponding two parallel, coplanar tracks for higher guide ofsaid flanges. Therefore, the air jets injected by the nozzles impingejust on the flange, which is guided as well by the lower part as by thehigher part, and neck areas immediately adjacent, that is to say, on theguiding areas of the bottles, which confer to them a balanced thrustwhich carries a great forwards run evenness.

In order to cut down ever more the costs, the conveyor of the inventionincludes the assembly of blowing nozzles at either side of the guidepath in two bodies, each sandwiched between each of said two supportingtracks and each of said two higher guiding tracks, the bodies of whichare crossed by passageways communicated by one end with at least one ofsaid pressurizable chambers and the other ends of which define saidblowing nozzles.

Each of said bodies is obtained from cutting a large-sized plate formedby two superposed sheets, close to each other, joined by walls parallelto each other, which cooperate with said sheets for defining saidpassageways, which are configured such as cells open by the edges.Cutting said large-sized plate can be carried out obliquely to thewalls, so that it forms with them a given angle, which can be selecteddepending on the working angle required for each application for thepropelling air jets. Said large-sized plate is of plastic material andis obtained through extrusion, therefore the making of said bodies,including air passageways and blowing nozzles, results very simple andcheap.

In addition, by giving to said body a suitable height, its sandwichingbetween a lower supporting track and a higher guiding track provides agap between the actual portions of said tracks suitable to the thicknessof the flange of the bottle, with which no further adjustments arerequired, which facilitates mounting to a great extent, having afavourable repercussion on the costs of said mounting in addition tothose of the further maintenance.

In order to provide the conveyor according to the invention with meansallowing to easily withdraw any bottle eventually clogged in the line,in at least one of said sandwich composed, the higher guide track andthe body are joined to the structure by rigid means, while thesupporting track is joined to said structure by independent elasticmeans, so that any bottle which unintentionally is clogged within theguide path of said tracks could be immediately released forcing at handsaid elastic joining means to take the supporting track apart.

The supporting structure in addition comprises two extensions, eachjoined by one side to one of said sandwiches composed of the tracks andthe body of the nozzles and on the other hand to an edge of saidpressurizable chamber, which is at least one, therefore said extensionsalso constitute part of said chamber closing. At least, one of saidextensions is joined to at least one supporting element of the conveyor,such as a column or an overhanging fixed arm.

In addition, means have been provided for adjusting the passage of theair between said pressurizable chamber, which is at least one, and saidblowing nozzles through the passageways of the body. Said means compriseobturating plates associated to said nozzle bodies which can be lockedin a position selectable for partly obturing all the passageways or fortotally and selectively obturating some of the passageways at regularintervals. On the other hand, said obturating plates can be moved and/orfixed to said hand selectable position, having access to them bypreviously dismounting said removable wrapping, they can belongitudinally guided and be moved and/or fixed to said selectableposition by suitable driving means, such as an electric motor or a fluiddynamic cylinder.

Last, it has been foreseen that the conveyor according to the inventioncomprises several of said inlets of compressed air supply to thechamber, distributed along the conveyor depending on the length thereof,and that the equipment comprises its own blowing or compressing airmeans connected to said different inlets for supplying compressed air tothe chamber.

Said means, which must provide a great air feed at a relatively lowpressure, can be formed by a single blower or compressor capable to feedthe whole line, with a feeding duct provided with a branch for each ofthe inlets of the chamber, or a plurality of small blowers orcompressors connected each to one inlet for feeding a length of thechamber. However, it is obvious that the conveyor of the invention canalso be fed from a compressed air plant already existing in anindustrial premise in which it is integrated or pertaining to anothermachine to which it is associated.

SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For best understanding the invention, it is proceeded thereafter todisclose it through concrete examples of embodiment, the examples ofwhich must not be interpreted as limitation but only illustrating, saiddescription being supported with reference to the drawings attached inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a view in perspective which diagrammatically shows the mainelements composing the conveyor of the invention and the way in whichthey are arranged;

FIG. 2 is a plane view showing a flow diagram of the compressed airwithin the conveyor of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 3 and 4 are two front, partly sectional views, which illustrate aconveyor according to the invention which incorporates, in addition, adevice for allowing the withdrawal of the bottles eventually cloggedwithin the guide path, being shown in a normal operating position and ina position which allows to withdraw them, respectively;

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

Referring first to FIG. 1 (see also FIGS. 3 and 4), numeral 1 designatesa lightweight, empty bottle, typically in plastic material,incorporating a flange 2 at the area of its neck 3. The conveyor of theinvention comprises a pair of parallel, coplanar supporting tracks 5, oneach of which a body 12 is located which defines a plurality of outletnozzles 6 along said track, and on each body 6 a second upper guidingtrack 11 is arranged. This way, the sandwiches formed by the tracks 5and 11 with the body 12 interposed between them are arranged this way,said sandwiches 5, 11, 12 being separate by a gap sufficient for forminga guide path 19 for bottles 1, on which they are transferred, suspended,with the flanges 2 supported and sliding on the lower supporting tracks5 and guided by the upper guiding tracks 11, under the thrust ofcompressed air jets ejected by the outlet nozzles 6 in a positionfavourable to the forwards run of the bottles 1 and which impinge juston the flange 2 and areas of the neck 3 immediately adjacent, providinga balanced thrust power.

The conveyor has a supporting structure 4 basically formed by a profile9, which is joining both sandwiches 5, 11, 12 by the upper part forminga reversed channel 10 for the passage of the necks 3, and of lateralextensions 15, each joined by one side to a sandwich 5, 11, 12 and bythe other to a end of a wrapping 8. At least one of said extensions 15can be joined to a supporting element of the conveyor, such as asupporting column 18 or an overhanging mounted arm.

The wrapping 8 is of a flexible laminar material, airtight, such as atarpaulin, and is joined to the ends of the extensions 15 by means of atight junction 20 easy to dismount.

This arrangement provides a pressurizable chamber 7 formed by thewrapping 8 and the elements of the supporting structure 4, that is tosay, the profile 9 and the extensions 15. Said pressurizable chamber 7has one or more inlets of compressed air supply (not shown) connected toblowing or compressing means which feed compressed air to said chamber7. The compressed air from the interior of said chamber 7 is forced topass through passageways 13 which cross the body 12, said passagewaysare communicated by one end with the chamber 7 and define by the othersaid blowing nozzles 6, producing air jets (shown with an arrow in FIG.2) which impinge, as it has been said before, on the flange area 2 ofthe bottles 1 in a direction favourable to the forwards run thereof.

For providing the air jets with said direction favourable to theforwards run of the bottles, said passageways 13 of the body 12 shows anoblique inclination with respect to the guide path 19. It is achieved,according to the invention obtaining the bodies 12 from cutting alarge-sized plate formed by two superposed sheets, close to each other,joined by walls parallel to each other, which co-operates with saidsheets for defining said passageways 13, which are configured as cells.Cutting this large-sized plate can be carried out obliquely to thewalls, so that bodies 12 are obtained with the passageways 13 orientedin a given angle, selectable depending on the working angle required ateach application for the propelling air jets.

Said large-sized plate is typically of plastic material and is obtainedthrough extrusion and a thickness is provided to it suitable to the gaprequired for the passage of the flange 2 between the supporting tracks 5and the upper guiding tracks 11.

In an embodiment not illustrated of the invention, the conveyor includesmeans, above disclosed, for regulating the air output through theblowing nozzles 6 based on the part obturation of all the passageways 13at one time or in the total selective obturation of some passageways 13distributed at regular intervals.

Considering now FIGS. 3 and 4, it can be seen in them same elementsdisclosed up to now, but with the addition of the device for allowingthe withdrawal of any bottle 1 which can be eventually clogged in theguide path 19.

The device is characterised in that, at least at one of said sandwiches5, 11, 12, the upper guiding track 11 and the body 12 are joined to thestructure 4, that is to say, the profile 9 and the extension 15, byrigid means 16, while the supporting track 5 is joined to said structure4 by elastic, independent means 17, so that any bottle 1 whichunintentionally would get clogged within the guide path 19 for saidtracks 5, 11 could be immediately released by forcing at hand saidelastic joining means 17 for separating the supporting track 5, evenwithout stopping the line.

In this example of embodiment, in order to make the rigid locking means16 with the elastic locking means 17, the parts forming the supportingtrack 5 are provided with two series of alternate holes. A first seriesis formed by relatively large-sized holes 21 (illustrated in the trackat the right of FIGS. 3 and 4), sufficient for allowing the passage, forexample of the head of a screw or a nut integrating the rigid lockingmeans 16, while the second series is formed by holes which only allowsthe passage, for example, of a bolt which grips a spring 22 (illustratedin the track 5 at the left of FIGS. 3 and 4), said bolt has a head ornut which does not pass through said hole, so that when forcing by handthe bottle 1, or directly the track 5 (FIG. 4), this later is takenapart form the sandwich 5, 11, 12, compressing the spring 22, andallowing to release the bottle 1, without affecting the rigid lockingmeans 16, which pass through the hole 21, which remain inalterablyjoining said sandwich 11, 12 together with the supporting structure 4,that is to say, profile 9 and extensions 15. When the force exerted onthe track 5 during the withdrawal of the clogged bottle 1, the spring 22recovers its initial shape newly relocating the supporting track 5 toits position of normal operation (FIG. 3).

It is obvious that one skilled in the art could carry out multiplechanges and modifications in the conveyor without departing from thescope of this invention, which is defined by appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. Pneumatic conveyor for empty, lightweight bottles(1), of the kind having a support flange (2) in an area of its neck (3),said conveyor comprising: a supporting structure (4) for at least twoparallel, coplanar supporting tracks (5) for said flange (2), saidtracks (5) being separate by a gap wide enough to define a guide path(19) for the travel of said bottles (1), and other two parallel,coplanar tracks (11) opposed to said supporting tracks (5) for upperguiding of said flanges (2); a plurality of blowing nozzles (6) arrangedbetween the supporting tracks (5) and said corresponding guiding tracks(11), said blowing nozzles (6) being distributed along and adjacent toeach of the said supporting tracks (5), both sides of said guide path(19) to provide air jets for propelling the bottles (1) at said area ofthe neck (3); at least one pressurizable chamber (7) communicated withsaid blowing nozzles (6); and at least an inlet for supplying compressedair to said chamber (7), characterized in that it comprises two bodies(12), each sandwiched between one of said two supporting tracks (5) andthe corresponding one of said two upper guiding tracks (11), said bodies(12) being crossed by passageways (13) which are communicated at one endwith said at least one pressurizable chamber (7) and defining at theother end said blowing nozzles (6).
 2. A conveyor, according to claim 1,characterised in that each of said bodies (12) is an obliquely cutportion of an extruded large-sized plate comprised of two superposedsheets, close to each other, joined by walls (14) parallel to eachother, which co-operate with said sheets to define said passageways(13), said walls (14) forming in said bodies (12) a given angle aboutthe guide path (19) selected depending on the working angle required ateach application for the propelling air jets.
 3. A conveyor, accordingto claim 1, characterised in that, in at least one of said sandwichescomposed of tracks (5, 11) and body (12), the upper guiding track (11)and the body (12) are joined to the structure (4) by rigid means (16),while the supporting track (5) is joined to said structure (4) byindependent elastic means (17), so that any bottle which unintentionallywould get clogged at the guiding path (19) could be immediately releasedmanually forcing said elastic joining means (17) for taking thesupporting track apart (5).
 4. A conveyor, according to claim 1,characterised in that said supporting structure (4) further comprisestwo extensions (15), each joined at one hand to one of said sandwichescomposed of tracks (5, 11) and body (12) and at the other hand to anedge of said at least one pressurizable chamber (7), said extension (15)remaining connected to at least one supporting column (18) of theconveyor.
 5. A conveyor, according to claim 1, characterised in that itfurther comprises means for regulating the air passage between said atleast one pressurizable chamber (7) and said blowing nozzles (6) throughthe passageways (13) of the body (12), said means comprising obturatingplates associated to said bodies (12) which can be locked at a selectedposition for selectively obturating some of the passageways (13) atregular intervals.
 6. A conveyor, according to claim 1, characterised inthat it comprises several of said inlets for supplying compressed air tosaid pressurizable chamber (7) distributed along the conveyor, dependingon the length thereof.
 7. A conveyor, according to claim 6,characterised in that it comprises its own blowing or air compressingmeans connected to said several inlets for supplying compressed air tochamber (7).
 8. A conveyor, according to claim 1, characterised in thatit further comprises means for regulating the air passage between saidat least one pressurizable chamber (7) and said blowing nozzles (6)through the passageways (13) of the body (12), said means comprisingobturating plates associated to said bodies (12) which can be locked ata selected position to partly obturate all the passageways (13).
 9. Aconveyor, according to claim 8, characterised in that said obturatingplates are manually movable to and/or lockable at said selectedposition, said plates being accessible by previously dismounting saidremovable wrapping (8).
 10. A conveyor, according to claim 8,characterised in that said obturating plates are longitudinally guidedand are movable to and/or lockable at said selected position by suitableoperating means such as an electric motor or a fluid dynamic cylinder.11. A conveyor, according to claim 1, characterised in that said atleast one pressurizable chamber (7) is formed by a removable, airtightwrapping (8), secured along said supporting structure (4) of theconveyor by airtight, removable junction means (20) so that a quickaccess is provided to said blowing nozzles (6) that distributes airalong the tracks (5, 11) for a cleaning, maintenance and eventualadjustment and/or regulation thereof.
 12. A conveyor, according to claim11, characterised in that said removable wrapping (8) is flexible.
 13. Aconveyor, according to claim 12, characterised in said flexible wrapping(8) is a tarpaulin.
 14. A conveyor, according to claim 11, characterisedin that it comprises one unique wrapping (8) forming a singlepressurizable chamber (7) associated to said blowing nozzles (6) alongboth tracks (5, 11).
 15. A conveyor, according to claim 14,characterised in that the area comprised between said tracks (5, 11),within said pressurizable chamber (7), is covered by a profile (9)configuring a reversed channel (10) for allowing the passage of thebottle (1) necks (3), said profile (9) partly acting as the supportingstructure (4) and partly for closing the pressurizable chamber (7). 16.A conveyor, according to claim 11, characterised in that it comprisestwo wrappings (8 a) forming two pressurizable chambers (7 a), eachassociated to the blowing nozzles (6) arranged along one of said tracks(5, 11).
 17. A conveyor, according to claim 16, characterised in thatthe area comprised between said tracks (5, 11) is covered at the top bya profile (9), said profile partly acting as the supporting structure(4).